I watched as 09 leaned in, tempted by the sizzling meat.
"Be careful, it's hot," I warned him, but it was too late. He yelped as he grabbed the meat, almost dropping it, but managed to catch it just in time. I held my breath, watching him juggle the meat between his hands until, with a strong initial burst, he used his aerokinesis to hover it just above his palm.
"Woah, well done." I exclaimed.
"Thank you," he responded innocently.
He brought the meat closer to his nose, sniffing it carefully. "It doesn’t smell bad. It… it actually smells like chicken" he said, glancing at me and then at Dungeon Master 07.
I took a piece of the meat I had been roasting and inspected it, sniffing it as well. "Yeah, doesn’t smell bad," I agreed, casting a glance at Dungeon Master 07, who continued to mind his own business, stirring the pot over the fire.
Hesitantly, I took a bite just as Dungeon Master 09 did. The texture was tender, like a perfectly cooked ribeye, promising a delicious experience. But as I began to chew, a strange sauce secreted from the meat, ruining everything. It tasted exactly like battery acid. I felt my HP drop, and a tingling sensation indicated that my resistance skill was kicking in, suggesting that the Basilisk meat was toxic.
As I spat it out immediately, Dungeon Master 09 gagged, throwing up his portion.
I rushed to him. "You’re alright?"
"I’m… I’m alright," he tried to reassure, but he wasn’t very convincing. He was clearly struggling more than I was, gagging and folding onto his knees.
I turned towards Dungeon Master 07, who was still stirring his pot, a "told you so" expression on his face.
Instead of talking to him, I retrieved Requiem, my healing gourd. Though it couldn’t heal anyone but me, the liquid inside had a coconut taste that I hoped would help Dungeon Master 09 deal with the horrible aftertaste. "Here, drink," I said, handing it to him.
He drank eagerly but ended up puking again, gagging and coughing. As he bent over, I massaged his back.
"My tongue… I feel like it’s falling off," he complained. "This hurt—"
Unable to bear the sight any longer, I looked at Dungeon Master 07, who still stirred his pot silently, seemingly enjoying the scene. "Stop watching and come help."
He shook his head and stopped stirring, the smirk never leaving his face. "Doesn’t taste as good as it smells, does it? I told you it was a bad idea."
"Why didn’t you stop us then?" I snapped.
"Remind me who said that eating a mythical beast might be their shot at acquiring resistance skills?" he replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, shut up and help him already," I barked.
"Alright," he said, rolling up his sleeves. He approached, then reached over to Dungeon Master 09, placing a hand on his head. "Don’t move now," he murmured
"Lumen Vitae," he chanted, casting a miracle on him.
As Dungeon Master 07 reached out, his hand glowing with a gentle, golden light. The light flowed from his hand into Dungeon Master 09, enveloping the boy in what I could feel was a warm, comforting aura. The boy's tense muscles relaxed visibly, his face softening as the healing magic worked through him.
"Tell me how you feel, now? Any pain left? Any numbness in your mouth or throat?" Dungeon Master 07 asked, his tone making him sound like a doctor speaking to a concerned patient.
"Uh, no, it’s… it’s better now," he muttered
"Good. Any resistance skills acquired yet?" Dungeon Master 07 pressed on, causing the Dungeon Master 09’s cheeks to flush with embarrassment.
I sighed inwardly, recalling the events that led us here. After dealing with the basilisks summoned by the first one we encountered, we had to dispose of the corpses.
Leaving them could attract more monsters or, worse, spawn undead creatures. Dungeon Master 07 had suggested we set up camp and clean up after ourselves, burning the bodies. It was during this annoying task that Dungeon Master 09 noticed the deceptively pleasant roasted smell from the basilisk carcasses and proposed trying the meat in hopes to, well, acquire resistance skills. The course of a previous discussion was that it was actually possible to get resistance by eating the meat of strong monsters. While it had never happened to any of us, Dungeon Master 07's mention that there was a precedent, which tempted Dungeon Master 09 to see if it’d be possible in his case. So I couldn't blame him for being embarrassed; I was too.
Dungeon Master 07 turned to me, his eyes twinkling with a rare hint of genuine amusement. "Do you need healing too?"
I shook my head, pride swelling in my chest. "No, I’m fine."
"Alright then," he said, returning to his pot. He poured the contents into two wooden bowls and handed them to us with a teasing smile. "Food, warm and poison-free. True food."
I took the bowl, peering into the warm broth. The soup was clear, with chunks of vibrant vegetables and tender pieces of meat floating in it, a comforting blend of colors and textures. It smelled inviting, a lot like the toxic basilisk meat.
Dungeon Master 07 caught me staring. "What are you looking at my soup so intently for?"
"Nothing," I replied, bringing a spoonful of the broth to my lips.
I blew on it gently before taking a sip. The moment the broth hit my tongue, I coughed, reaching for my healing gourd to drown the aftertaste. It wasn't the fault of Dungeon Master 07’s soup; it was the lingering bitterness of the basilisk meat that had invaded every flavor.
"You're not going to make me believe my soup is that bad," Dungeon Master 07 barking, clearly not pleased by my reaction.
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"Great, because I wasn’t," I retorted.
After the horrific taste of the basilisk meat and my reaction, I could tell that Dungeon Master 09 seemed hesitant. However, thanks to the healing he just received, he didn't suffer the same unpleasant experience as I did when he took a first sip of it. I imagined the soup tasted good; while it might not have been as refined as the meals at Seagull’s Nest Restaurant, it probably tasted wonderful. For that was all I could do, imagining.
A few minutes later, as I was still struggling to finish my soup, Dungeon Master 09, having finished his, broke the silence that we all ate in. "It was really impressive how you disposed of the basilisk. You basically obliterated them all."
I smiled and replied, "Thanks. But there was nothing particularly special about it. I just defeated them because I was over-leveling them."
"You still made it look like child's play," Dungeon Master 09 insisted.
I guess I really did make it look like child's play when I had successfully hexed the creatures with Legacy of Agony, I thought to myself.
With the state this ability leaves the victims in, any battle where I managed to successfully use the skill is pretty much a won battle.
"Once again, it's just a matter of level, my level and that of my skills. I'm sure that once you get to my level, you'll be able to do the same."
"Level 27," Dungeon Master 09 chuckled self-deprecatingly. "That's still so far away."
"Not at all," I said, trying to cheer him up rather than being entirely objective. Both Dungeon Masters seemed to notice my attempt at encouragement, so I added, "You just had a rough start to your leveling journey. In this incarnation, I was about your age when I began to actively gather experience."
My thoughts drifted to my days back in the chateau, where I was presented with my first monster to slaughter for experience for my very first level up. It was a harmless hog-like animalistic monster with bound limbs that the little girl that I was back was expected to butcher with a knife. No doubt that would have been a traumatizing experience for any child my age, so I suppose it was a good thing that it was me in charge back then than any other person.
Dungeon Master 07, who had been sitting quietly, asked Dungeon Master 09, "Did your parents know that you're a Verdenkind?"
With a strange, shy nod, Dungeon Master 09 confessed, "They knew. I told them." He gave a couple of seconds to digest that information, but before any of us could make a remark, he added, "I had hoped they’d be cooperative when it came to helping me level up, considering their line of work."
"They weren't?" I asked.
Dungeon Master 09 shook his head. "They weren’t. When I showed them, they clearly didn't seem thrilled to learn that I was Verdenkind and not a peon."
"It's usually the opposite," I said.
"Yes. Of course, I don’t mean they had a problem with me. It's just they clearly had a problem with the Verdenkind part of me. They never allowed me to train to the sword to acquire new skills, forbidding me from using any of my innate skills and abilities. Clearly, they would have been happier if I were a peon."
Welp, that’s the very opposite of my folk back at the chateau.
Not just them in fact; in a previous incarnation, the only time I was found out by the family I had spawned into and had to reveal to them that I was a Verdenkind, they were very enthusiastic about it. Sure, that woman back then had reservations about how Verdenkind leveled up, but she was mostly very enthusiastic about the idea that her daughter had powers that made her inhumanely strong.
"Why?" I asked.
The one to answer my question wasn’t Dungeon Master 09 but Dungeon Master 07. "Considering their line of work, it's not hard to guess that they most likely understood the risk that comes with being a Verdenkind, and more exactly, what leveling as a Verdenkind entails. That’s a wise and good set of parents you had there," he praised in his usual and stern voice.
"You think..." Dungeon Master 09 mumbled. He seemed to genuinely appreciate the praise and clearly agreed with it. Most likely noticing that we noticed, he immediately tried to deflect the attention. "And your parents, what were they like, Dungeon Master 07?"
"My parents?"
Clearly, it wasn’t something Dungeon Master 07 expected to be discussed.
"Yes," Dungeon Master 09 insisted.
Given what I knew about Dungeon Master 07, I expected him to brush off the question, saying his parents were irrelevant. Yet, unexpectedly, he replied, "I don't know what to tell you. I wouldn’t call them wise, but they were, I suppose, good parents. They gave me everything a child should expect from parents, so I guess yes, they were good parents."
"I see," Dungeon Master 09 stammered. Clearly, he too wasn't expecting such an output from Dungeon Master 07. "Your parents in this incarnation were believers of the Byg'm?k faith, right?"
Dungeon Master 07 nodded. "They were born believing in it, died believing in it."
"Then they must have at least been very proud of what you became."
"I suppose they were," he said with a genuine chuckle, one that he immediately regretted showing as he quickly wiped it from his face.
"And you, Dungeon Master 08?" Dungeon Master 07 asked, turning to me.
"Me?"
"I've said something about my parents, Dungeon Master 09 said something about his. It’s only fair that you do too."
I chuckled at the strange reasoning before adding, "Fair enough, but I don’t think I have anything I particularly want to mention about my parents. I mean... I think you guys know the link that ties me to that family even before this incarnation of mine..."
The mood quickly soured. Of course they knew; I had told them both about it, how I reincarnated into the very family that initiated the spiral that led me to reincarnate again and again.
"It doesn’t have to be about those parents," Dungeon Master 07 offered.
I appreciated the consideration but ultimately felt like it wasn’t very fair, so I added, "You know, it's alright. I can talk about it."
"Frankly despite everything, I think I've been very lucky to have been born into that family. They helped me a lot, gave me everything I could have expected from them. I can’t deny them those merits. While we began on very shaky, if not outright rotten foundations, if I weren’t born as Faye, I doubt I would have grown to be who I am now. So if there’s something I’m very thankful for, it's that they spawned this vessel of mine. I may not say it enough, but I like this vessel, easily my favorite Wei? born of the past century."
Dungeon Master 09 and Dungeon Master 07 looked at me with strange expressions, prompting me to ask, "Did I say too much?"
"Yes," they replied in unison.
***
A couple of hours later, Dungeon Master 09 was soundly asleep, his head resting on my lap as I gently passed my hand through his hair. The fire crackled softly, casting flickering shadows around our camp. I looked ahead at Dungeon Master 07, who sat across the fire, his gaze steady but contemplative.
"Is there something you would like to say?" I asked, sensing that he had been holding back something since earlier in the day. I suspected it had to do with Dungeon Master 09, and now that he was asleep, it seemed like the best opportunity to address it.
"You seem to already know what it is," he replied.
"Well, I've got my little idea of what it is. Is it about my interference from earlier?"
"I wouldn't say that it is just that interference but Dungeon Master 09 as a whole," he began, his tone serious. He seemed intent on continuing this tangent, but seeing how I instinctively straightened, he added, "But since I have the feeling this isn't something you want to talk about, let's keep it just about that interference. I understand that for some reason very personal to you, you're overprotective of Dungeon Master 09, which he doesn't seem to mind at all, but as protective as you are, he is ultimately one of us. He shares the same burden and responsibility as both you and me. He needs to be able to stand on his own without you constantly shielding him."
I looked down at Dungeon Master 09, his peaceful expression contrasting sharply with the intense discussion. "I know that," I said softly. "And despite saying that, I am very aware that I haven't acted on it. Because here's the thing: earlier, no, even when I look at him, I see someone so young, so inexperienced, so vulnerable. I know he's just another one of us, but I've lived enough lives and died enough times to know very well how vulnerable we can be in those early days."
I paused, letting the crackling fire fill the silence for a moment. "I feel like it's my duty to protect not just Dungeon Master 09, but also Dungeon Master 10, who we currently know nothing about, and of course all the Dungeon Masters who'll follow us. Sure, I might have done it the wrong way here, but don't you think that there's nothing inherently wrong with not wanting any of us to suffer in any way? We've all been sent into Fiendfell with a simple mission, to retrieve all the goddess's authorities. There's nothing mentioning that we have to obligatorily suffer."
Dungeon Master 07 remained silent, his expression unreadable. I broke the silence. "Say, Dungeon Master 07?"
"Mh?"
"You remember when you asked me if there's a goal I had for myself in this incarnation? Well, I have another one I'd like to put right beside taking down Cleon the One and Only..."
He leaned forward slightly, intrigued. "Which one?"